CHROME IAS ACADEMY
DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS
9 – 10th Apr’18
NEWS
NITI FORUM MEET AT AGARTALA
NITI forum meet at Agartala for the first meeting of the recently established NITI Forum for North East.
Apart from chief secretaries of these states and secretaries of relevant central ministries and departments, directors of reputed institutions such as IITs and IIMs and experts will be members of the forum.
The forum will work closely with DoNER and North Eastern Council and its secretariat will be located at the DoNER Ministry.
WORLD’S FIRST MICROFACTORY TO HELP TACKLE E-WASTE HAZARD
An Indian-origin scientist in Australia has launched the world’s first microfactory that can transform the components from electronic waste items such as smartphones and laptops into valuable materials for re-use.
It can also turn many types of consumer waste such as glass, plastic and timber into commercial materials and products. For instance, from e-waste, computer circuit boards can be transformed into valuable metal alloys such as copper and tin while glass and plastic from e-devices can be converted into micromaterials used in industrial grade ceramics and plastic filaments for 3D printing.
The modular microfactories can operate on a site as small as 50 square metres and can be located wherever waste may be stockpiled.
A microfactory is one or a series of small machines and devices that uses patented technology to perform one or more functions in the reforming of waste products into new and usable resources.
The e-waste microfactory that reforms discarded computers, mobile phones and printers has a number of small modules for this process and fits into a small site.The discarded devices are first placed into a module to break them down. The next module may involve a special robot for the identification of useful parts. Another module then involves using a small furnace which transforms these parts into valuable materials by using a controlled temperature process developed via extensive research.
Relevance : Prelims
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE FOR DEVELOPMENT, WASTE MANAGEMENT: PM INDIA
Prime Minister has said that all stakeholders must adhere to the “golden principle” of the 3Rs — Reduce, Reuse and Recycle — which will significantly help in waste management and sustainable development.
- The prime minister’s message was to participants of the Eighth Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific, to be held in Indore.
Relevance : Prelims, GS 2
NEW TYPE OF ANTIBIOTICS TO FIGHT DRUG RESISTANCE
A new class of antibiotics, from an unconventional source which has a distinct way of killing bacteria, has been discovered which may help combat drug-resistant or hard-to-treat bacterial infections.
- The antibiotic called odilorhabdins or ODLs, are produced by symbiotic bacteria found in soil-dwelling nematode worms that colonise insects for food.
- The bacteria helps in killing the insect and, importantly, secretes the antibiotic to keep competing bacteria away.
Relevance : Prelims
HUMANITY’S FIRST FLIGHT TO SUN SET TO LAUNCH IN JULY
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe — humanity’s first mission to the Sun — is undergoing final preparations for its launch scheduled for July 31.
After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere — the corona — closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone.
While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the Sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.
Just prior to being fuelled, one of the most critical elements of the spacecraft, the thermal protection system (TPS), or heat shield, will be installed. The TPS is the breakthrough technology that will allow Parker Solar Probe to survive the temperatures in the Sun’s corona, just 9.8 million kilometres from the surface of our star.
Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars.
Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on the Sun and the subsequent space weather events that impact technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space
Relevance : Prelims
IMPORTANT FACT IN NEWS
Walmiki and Malhar
A linguist from the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has stumbled on two languages called Walmiki and Malhar both predominantly in the remote region’s of Odisha. The languages are categorised `endangered’ as the number of people speaking is small.Malhar has close affinities with other North Dravidian languages like Malto and Kurux spoken in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Relevance : Prelims
